Vietnam and Laos are committed to cementing cooperation and sharing experiences in coping with the global economic downturn.

Vietnam’s MPI Minister Vo Hong Phuc (left) and Laos’ Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh focus on cooperation.

That was the message delivered by the Vietnamese and Laotian ministries of Planning and Investment (MPI) during last week’s joint meeting between ministry leaders in the Laos capital of Vientiane.

The meeting followed a cooperation agreement to deal with the crisis signed by the two MPIs in February this year. “Close cooperation between the two ministries will help us reduce and limit negative impacts caused by the global economic downturn in each nation,” Laotian MPI Deputy Minister Thomy Phomvysay said.

A meeting between Vietnamese and Laotian firms also took place to share experiences amid the world’s dwindling demand for goods. The two ministries’ officials discussed obstructions in investment procedures. Laos’ MPI also asked Vietnam’s MPI to help it build its seventh, five-year plan (2011-2015) and send experts to the landlocked country. Phomvysay said Laos’ economy was also badly hit by the world’s troubled economy.

“But signs of an economic standstill have been shown in the beginning months of the year, with a slowdown in exports in a series of sectors,” he said.
“Laos’ export turnover in the first quarter of 2009 has fallen by 41 per cent against the corresponding period last year,” said Sirivanh Khonthapane, director general of Laos’ National Economic Research Institute (NERI).

“The Laotian government is doing its best to achieve an economic growth rate of 6.5 per cent in 2009, down from 7.9 per cent in 2008,” he said.

According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office, the economy grew only 3.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year, far lower than the 7.4 per cent in last year’s first quarter. The International Monetary Fund forecast that Vietnam’s economic growth rate would be only 4.75 per cent, while the World Bank and Asia Development Bank forecast a rate of 5.5 per cent in 2009.

VietNamNet/VIR